March 2008 Focus

The Do-Nothing Council

Just 11 months after the Borough elections and the Tories are wondering what to do. The Borough's strategy for the next four years has just been published and it contains virtually no proposals to tackle the area's problems. At a recent council meeting we proposed that they should take action on: Anti-social behaviour, Empty properties (there are 2,500 empty houses and flats in the Borough), Rising energy costs, Deprivation (the government has criticised the council for its inaction). The Tories said "no" to everything! We have looked through the strategy and can find nothing suggested by the Tories. Why were they so keen to win the elections and be in charge if there were no improvements they wanted to make? We have persuaded the Borough to look into how much they spend putting right vandalism. Perhaps this will persuade the Tories to do something about anti-social behaviour.

On Your Side?

One of your Tory MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) has been fined £600 by the Parliament for trying to shout down the Portuguese Prime Minister.The same MEP has been expelled from the Tory Group on the parliament but re-selected to fight his seat in the European Elections next year. Does any of this make sense?

Another £9,000 Gone

Another month goes by and another £9,000 goes up in smoke! That's the monthly cost of leaving empty Killisick Court in Arnold. The building has now been empty for over a year and the total cost is around £200,000, for nothing! In addition, the cost of repairing the building is going up; the value of Balmoral House in Colwick, intended to be sold to part pay for the repairs, is going down and you are paying for homeless people to be put in bed and breakfast accommodation. However, the Tories tell us that they have some secret negotiations going on.

Emission Reduction

A 12% reduction in harmful emissions from aircraft flying over Europe could be achieved "at a stroke" if a single air controllers' system were to be established. Such a system would enable aircraft to fly directly to their destinations instead of zig-zagging as they cross different countries' air space. It won't happen because the different national governments refuse to give up control of their own air space.

Satisfaction Survey

Every year the Borough does a survey to find out how it stands in your opinion. The results of this year's survey have just appeared: There is a relatively high satisfaction with basic services, Fear of crime is the biggest problem, especially concern over youth groups and anti-social behaviour, There is a skills deficit amongst those working. School pupils perform well at 14 but are below average at 16 and worse at working age. The Tories have no plans to act on this information.

Gedling's Council Tax

The ruling Tories pushed through their budget with a 3% increase in Council Tax. They will keep the extra 6 bin collections in the summer (costing £160,000), scrap the subsidy for police support officers (we lose 6 officers from our streets), saving £132,000 and virtually no money for anything else. They have no ideas and no direction for the council and their priorities are wrong. The Labour Party wanted to scrap the extra summer bin collections, increase Council Tax by 3.25% and spend the extra money on a lot of small environmental schemes. These were interesting but not properly costed. The LibDems wanted to scrap the extra summer bin collections and to tackle Anti-Social Behaviour either by continuing the subsidy on the police officers or by any other method. We also wanted to scrap the charges for taking away fridges and freezers. We believe that the Council has lost direction by removing the pressure against Anti-Social Behaviour and deciding against tackling environmental damage and costs.

Arnold Masterplan

It looks as though the part of Arnold Town centre bounded by High St., Cross St., Front St. and Croft Rd will be knocked down and redeveloped (except the library and leisure centre). This will mean a bigger health centre, maybe a bigger Asda and lots of new shops. This will all take several years and the detailed plans will not be available until early 2009.

Watch Out!

From May 12th the County Council will take over the enforcement of on-street parking. They are employing a private company to do the work, so watch out where you park! Any "profit" from the scheme has to be spent on highway improvements.

£2,000 Every Week!

Killisick Court, on Coppice Road in Arnold, continues to stand empty. It has been empty for over a year because the Tories refuse to have it converted into homeless flats. The waste of money continues at a rate of over £2,000 per week and this doesn't include the cost of bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless people who ought to be living there. This is the price residents are paying to keep the peace amongst Tory councillors.

Council House Rents

From April, council house rents are to go up by 5.8%. This was decided by the Tories alone - no-one else even had a vote on it. The government are forcing rents up, but the Council could have chosen a smaller increase. They didn't because the extra rent money will end up in the Council's bank account if the tenants vote for a transfer.

Bus Passes

The Government has given local councils £212m for so-called "free national travel", which is really "free travel on local buses". The trouble is that the cost is nearer £500m. Gedling will receive £307,000 extra, but the extra cost is £680,000. Nottingham City expects to have extra costs of £1.65m. If one of us goes to the QMC, we have to use 4 buses and 3 of the journeys will begin in the City. The system means that City tax payers will pay for those 3 journeys. This is a hopelessly unfair way to deliver an important new service.

Landfill Taxes

Councils pay the government £32 for every tonne of rubbish that goes to landfill (it was £14 per tonne in 2003). The charge goes up to £48 in 2010. The government said the extra money would go to help councils to recycle. Now the government is keeping the money.